4 min

“I’m honoured, I must confess. I’m excited as well. I want to say a very big thank you to God Almighty for making this [winning Best Actress nod at AMVCA] possible because my category was a top category. I want to thank my fans who took time off their busy schedule to vote for me. Their votes didn’t go to waste and I give God all the glory for that and I’m grateful”.

The above words came out from the excited Jackie Appiah to GhanaCelebrities.Com shortly after her announcement as the Best Actress on the African Continent at the inaugural AfricaMagic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) which took place at the Eko Hotel in Lagos, Nigeria last Saturday.

The popular Ghanaian actress made history as she became the first Ghanaian actress to win one of the biggest awards on the night, therefore engraving her name in the history books of African Cinema and the awards.

She saw off challenge from the hot favourites; Nollywood’s Genevieve Nnaji and Funke Akindele as well as Bubu Mazibuko and Nolwazi Shange with her exceptional performance in ‘The Perfect Picture’, a Shirley Frimpong-Manso movie.

The Ghanaian’s triumph came as a surprise to many. A disappointed Uti Nkwachukwu who was rooting for his compatriot, Genevieve Nnaji couldn’t help himself when the Ghanaian was mentioned as the winner. Prior to the announcement, he shouted Genevieve’s name but the shocker came when Jackie Appiah was announced at the winner.

The Nigerian actor, TV presenter, model, MC and winner of Big Brother Africa All Star who was seated close to this reporter shouted “What the f**k” to show his displeasure. But just when the Ghanaian actress climbed the podium to collect her award, Uti showed remorse by saying that, all the nominees in the category deserves to win.

Jackie Appiah, co-won the 6th African Movie Academy Awards (AMAAs) Best Actress in 2010 with the same movie with the director of the movie picking the Best Director nod.

Having been named as the best actress on the continent from votes from committed fans all over Africa comes with a full responsibility. Pressure will now be mounted on the actress in terms of movie roles. How will the actress relate to the looming pressures from fans?. Is she just going to accept any movie roles?

“No! This shows that I must be on my toes. [Snapping her fingers in the process] Everything I do must be on point. I must try harder. It’s not going to be only me. It will make my other colleagues to be on their feet and work harder too”.

The Best Actress was one of the keenly contested categories which were fully voted for by the Viewers. Commenting on it, she said in terms of the numbers, she didn’t think she was going to win because when it comes to voting, Nigeria has the numbers and with two Nigerian actresses in the country, her fears was heightened.

She said, she won the award as an African and not as a Ghanaian contesting Nigerian or other actresses.

“I left everything in the hands of God. Nigeria is very big. They are so many people but then I believed they are my fans and they will vote for me. We are all Africans. Even to be a nominee is a blessing. I didn’t know I will win. I wasn’t too sure because it was a top competition. So I can’t boldly say that, I knew I was going to win. No!”

The actress dedicates the awards “to God Almighty, to everyone who took time off their busy schedule to vote for me. I thank everybody who saw it necessary to vote for me. To anyone who went to the website to use their credit to vote for me. To Samira Yabuku, Roger Quartey, Majid Michel, Nadia Buari all of them and everybody who cheered me on and are excited that I got the award for Ghana and the continent. God bless them and I dedicate this award to them”.

“Most importantly not forgetting Shirley Frimpong Manso for giving me the opportunity to take part in this movie. I’m grateful to her and Ken [Attoh]. I’m so happy that I take part in this movie. It has brought us lots of awards. It has taken us far. I thank her for giving me the opportunity to be part of the movie, The Perfect Picture. Thank you Shirley Frimpong Manso, I respect you and salute you”.

How dis this gay prick has mouth to talk trash at ppl baffles me. uTi should be thankful he hasn’t been sent to prison yet in naija for being a faggot, yet he wants to demean the success of jackie appiah, africa’s finest because she won over genny and funke. i cant wait for the day someone will expose his gay ass. congrats jackie, you remain the pride of ghana and africa

@ b b nd co, u re d biggest fhool for not knowin dat uti said d truth. Did i hear somebody say she is d best actress in africa ok i agree porn actress abi? D best 1-10 actors nd actresses re all in nig,no disrespect to gh cos dey re learnin fast. Gene cannot win cos dey hosted nd mind u she is called julia roberts of africa(by oprah),has been interviewed by cnn alongside stephanie. Jackie is gud but still has to feature in a block buster film to become among top ten in africa. Fyi dis is just a viewers award dat was manipulated considerin nig’s poplatn

Uti is a big fool who can’t act to save his life. I’m glad Jackie won. Genny is to full of herself and she didn’t act well in that mirror boy she even acted better in the movie Sharon stone than in mirror boy.

@Joh, why wont u get swallowed……….., huh. Gene is good so is Jackie. And even if Jackie is not a good actress that guy shouldnt have behaved that way. he made it look as if he’s got a personal issue with Jackie. like it or not, Jackie won.

@Joh, gene time has passed, have you watched her movies of late watch mirror boy she didn’t act well at all. If you say she became a star before Jackie I would accept but in life no condition is permanent someone will obviously come and take over. This is Jackie’s time and the voters now believe they have seen enough of Genevieve and voted for Jackie. Who acted so well in perfect picture than Genevieve did in mirror boy.

@Joh, you are ridiculous to make a statement like that you fool. Genevieve is past glory. She is everywhere now. And her acting is not like before I believe Genevieve head became to swollen in the past so she refused to update or improve on her acting skills thinking she’s the best. I personally think mercy Johnson is a better actress than Genevieve and also Jackie appiah because Genevieve can’t act some of the roles given to them to play like the movie Death after Birth acted by Jackie Genevieve can never play that kind of character or the movie where Jackie played as twins and one was from the village Genevieve could never play that role.

@Tina, I agree with you Genny only likes parts that will make her look beautiful she doesn’t take characters that will take her out of her comfort zones. But Jackie does a lot of movies that she doesn’t care if she is looking ugly like Cherlize atheron in Monster. I watched Jackie in Death after birth miss nnanji can never play that role Jackie played. Jackie is the best and everyone in Africa loves her. Genny is not a star like before that’s what I think

@ Jon, please spare me that crap genivie doesn’t act of late in her recent movies. She acts all the same in her movies. She is riding on past glory. She used to act back in the days but now she is crap. Jackie congratulations

@Lisa, true genevieve doesn’t act well of late she needs to sit up. I’m glad the whole of Africa chose Jackie. She is so humble and a versatile actress she plays all kinds of characters unlike genevieve who likes playing roles that she would be looking beautiful